A Seoul-based venture capital firm founded in 2015 and affiliated with a leading pharmaceutical company in South Korea closed their first fund in 2016 and has recently raised a second fund of approximately $60M USD. The firm has made 8 investments to date, in 3 Korean and 5 USA-based companies. The firm continues to seek global opportunities. The firm generally participates in financings of Series B and beyond, participating in Series A rounds on a case-by-case basis. However, the firm has started to look for earlier stage opportunities and is most interested in spin-out assets and forming new companies in South Korea. Within this angle, the firm is highly interested in companies who are interested in entering the Korean market and looking to leverage on the capital and clinical infrastructure in South Korea.

The firm is focused on therapeutics companies and does not invest in medical devices, diagnostics, or digital health. The firm is open to considering assets of very early stages, even those as early as lead optimization phase. The firm considers various modalities, including antibodies, small molecules, and cell therapy. Currently, the firm is not interested in gene therapy. Indication-wise, the firm is most interested in oncology and autoimmune diseases but has recently looked at fibrotic diseases and certain rare diseases as well.

With regards to companies raising a Series A round, the firm prefers working with experienced management teams with high-profile scientific founders being involved. The firm incorporates a different strategy depending on the company’s headquarters. For companies based in South Korea, the firm serves as a hands-on, active investor and seeks board representation. In the USA, the firm prefers to be a more passive investor and generally seeks to co-invest with established venture capital firms that have a footprint in the USA.

Even with the RESI Boston conference less than 3 weeks away, the upcoming conference continues to attract an international crowd of early-stage companies and investors. In last week’s newsletter, we discussed how over 1/3 of the registered attendees are coming from firms based outside of the USA. For this particular event, Life Science Nation (LSN) has been working closely with the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) to showcase innovative technologies from South Korea across therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health.

The Korean biotech ecosystem has certainly been growing in all aspects. This year, the government has pledged to invest over $328M (USD) to support the development of new biotech (1). For many years, South Korea has been well-established as a R&D hub – beyond the capital city of Seoul, other cities to keep an eye on include Songdo International City (home to large biotech companies, including Celltrion and Samsung BioLogics) and Daejeon (home to KAIST and a newly established biocluster, the DAEJEON Bio Venture Town). An increasing number of pharmaceutical groups are seeking innovations globally for in-licensing and equity investment. Some groups, like Yuhan Corporation, are planning to expand their operations in the USA, among other developed nations (2).

With these series of recent developments that have been contributing to the growth of Korean biotech/healthcare technologies, it is only natural that more start-up companies are seeking to meet and partner with global firms. Without further ado, here are the Korean companies that are attending and available to meet at RESI Boston!

Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA): KOTRA, a global business platform, supports small and medium-sized Korean enterprises to explore overseas markets through its 127 offices/networks in 87 countries around the world. This year, KOTRA has partnered with KoreaBio (Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization), KIMST (Korea Institute of Marine Science & Technology Promotion) and COMPA (Commercialization Promotion Agency for R&D Outcome) in presenting a number of promising Korean biotech startups to the world. KOTRA strives to share its expertise and collaborate with these organizations to help biotech startups succeed, continue to grow, and expand its business abroad.

Korean Free Economic Zones (K-FEZ):Korean Free Economic Zones are specially designated areas created to improve the business and living environment for foreign-invested firms in Korea. Since the 2003 inauguration of an FEZ in Incheon, the number of FEZs in operation has grown to eight: Incheon, Busan-Jinhae, Gwangyang Bay Area, Daegu-Gyeongbuk, Saemangeum-Gunsan, Yellow Sea, East Coast and Chungbuk.

Deep Medi Inc:DeepMedi developed the first monitor able to read blood pressure from only a smart phone camera without additional special equipment. Using their artificial intelligence based model, the user can estimate blood pressure from a pulse wave.

L-BASE:L-BASE has developed new peptide drugs for multi-drug-resistance cancers. By controlling the function of a new CTA (Cancer-Testis Antigen), CAGE, these peptide drug candidates can solve multi-drug resistances in cancer, especially lung cancer with T790M mutation and breast cancer. These drug candidates are a first in class in multi drug resistance and now at the stage of IND preparation. L-BASE has published more than 15 international papers on CAGE functions, and has applied for several IPs about peptides drug candidates which control CAGE function.

CellSafe:CellSafe is developing the first bone graft products with dual functions of bone formation and the inhibition of bone destruction which will replace BMP2 (Bone morphogenetic protein 2) products.

MDimune:MDimune is developing innovative therapeutics for cancer and COPD in order to solve the highly unmet medical needs with BioDrone® technology, which is a target specific drug delivery platform based on artificial exosomes derived from human cells such as immune cells and stem cells.

NosQuest is a diagnostics company that develops analytical software and databases to identify microorganisms as well as to diagnose stages of diseases (currently breast & ovarian cancers). NosQuest is also developing an artificially intelligent cloud-based platform for library diagnostics where hospitals and eventually, patients can access the platform for diagnosis/prognosis.

PANAGENE is a sole provider of PNA (DNA analogue) for commercial use and has its own technologies for mass production and various application of PNA. PANAGENE’s diagnostic products are used to identify personalized medicine for patients with various cancer and to detect infectious diseases. Also, PANAGENE developed the first in class detection kit in liquid biopsy in Korea.

Optolane Technologies Inc:OPTOLANE is a semiconductor integrated In-Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) platform company that is developing POC-MDx solutions of real-time PCR (qPCR) and digital PCR (dPCR) system by using CMOS sensor based technology.

THE WAVE TALK:THE WAVE TALK developed a laser-based sensor detects any impurity (including bacteria), even in running water, and continuously and non-disruptively sends a signal to any device, including mobile applications. Their laser-based sensor is extremely more accurate than conventional lasers and is able to detect even low concentrations of bacteria based on its movements in real-time.

Infit & Company Inc:Infit & Company Inc. was established on the disruptive biological tissue-analyzing technology to fulfill new paradigm of healthcare. Quantified and physiological value will be used in various wellness and medical applications such as belly fat scanner, breast cancer diagnosis device.

ImmuneMed was established in 2000 as one of the pioneer biotech venture companies in Korea. The platform technology of ImmuneMed is phenotype-based excavation of antigen & antibody. First in class anti-viral immunoglobulin (IgG4) drug candidate is effective for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza and dermatitis. Original IP of drug candidate was issued in 2004 and Material IP was applied in Korea and 8 regions around the globe (2016).

Established in 2016 as a venture company, Quratis works as an important base for research partners to cover the Asian region including China with its TB vaccine and other products. Quratis, which has a long-term joint research project with Yonsei University Health System, concluded an exclusive license agreement with research partners for a tuberculosis vaccine in 2017.

Bally’s Co., Ltd:This young social venture company manufactures pet food by up-cycling agricultural and fisheries products, which are undervalued with its corporate mission of “no life to be dumped”.

Hot Mandates

The firm is focused on therapeutics companies and does not invest in medical devices, diagnostics, or digital health. The firm is open to considering assets of very early stages, even those as early as lead optimization phase. The firm considers various modalities, including antibodies, small molecules, and cell therapy. Currently, the firm is not interested in gene therapy. Indication-wise, the firm is most interested in oncology and autoimmune diseases but has recently looked at fibrotic diseases and certain rare diseases as well.

The firm is opportunistic across all subsectors of healthcare. Within MedTech, the firm is most interested in medical devices, artificial intelligence, robotics, and mobile health. The firm is seeking post-prototype innovations that are FDA cleared or are close to receiving clearance. Within therapeutics, the firm is interested in therapeutics for large disease markets such as oncology, neurology, and metabolic diseases. The firm is open to all modalities with a special interest in immunotherapy and cell therapy.

A strategic investment firm of a large global pharmaceutical makes investments ranging from $5 million to $30 million, acting either as a sole investor or within a syndicate. The firm is open to considering therapeutic opportunities globally, but only if the company is pursuing a market opportunity in the USA and is in dialogue with the US FDA.

The firm is currently looking for new investment opportunities in enterprise software, medical devices, and the healthcare IT space. The firm will invest in 510k devices and healthcare IT companies, and it is very opportunistic in terms of indications. In the past, the firm was active in medical device companies developing dental devices, endovascular innovation devices, and women’s health devices.

A venture capital firm founded in 2005 has multiple offices throughout Asia, New York, and San Diego. The firm has closed its fifth fund in 2017 and is currently raising a sixth fund, which the firm is targeting to be the largest fund to date. The firm continues to actively seek investment opportunities across a […]

Featured: All About Innovation Challenge

Companies from all categories of life science are encouraged to apply to Innovation Challenge for RESI Healthtech Week. Eligible companies can apply to Day 1 the First Coast Innovator’s Gathering, Day 2 RESI Global Partnering or both. Applicants will have the opportunity for excellent visibility among investors and strategic partners.

By Samuel Rubin, Business Development Manager, LSN For the first time this fall, Life Science Nation (LSN) will have two days of competition as part of the RESI Healthtech Week (September 5-7, 2018). Day 1 will feature the First Coast Innovation Challenge, where the top 10 ranked companies of the First Coast tech hubs will present […]

By Jessica Yang, Investor Research Analyst, LSN On June 4th, more than 700 scientist-entrepreneurs and investors entered the exhibition hall at Boston Marriott Copley Place to participate in the RESI conference. They were greeted by 30 Innovation Challenge finalists across therapeutics, medical device, diagnostics, and digital health sectors. The 30 companies, evaluated by LSN’s expert […]

By James Huang, Research Analyst, LSN We are excited to showcase the top RESI Innovation Challenge startup applicants, who will be taking part in the poster presentation showcase at the second annual RESI BIO held in Boston this year, alongside the BIO International conference. These handpicked companies represent the key sectors of the healthcare space […]

An interview with Steven ten Holder, COO, Acorn Biolabs – By Greg Mannix, VP of International Business Development, LSN This year’s 2nd place finisher at the Innovation Challenge at RESI on MaRS was Acorn Biolabs. LSN interviewed COO, Steven ten Holder and got some key takeaways on how Acorn used the RESI Innovation Challenge effectively: […]